INTEGRATING ARTS IN EFL CURRICULA: A FOCUS ON LANGUAGE LISTENING SKILLS
Journal Title: International Journal of Langauges' Education and Teaching - Year 2016, Vol 4, Issue 2
Abstract
Arts are commonly used in primary and secondary classrooms for learning purposes, but arts integration in higher education curricula could benefit university-level students academically and emotionally as well. Integrating arts into an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) curriculum could benefit students who experience foreign language anxiety, which hinders them from being socially and linguistically successful in the classroom according to multiple studies outlined in the literature section. The focus for students in this study was on listening skills because it is a major element in foreign language development that is explored to a lesser degree than reading, writing and speaking skills. The eight introductory-level classes were split between control and experimental classes. During the first part of the arts implementation, the experimental classes began with drama theatre for 30 minutes. This consisted of students taking a theme in English, such as home and directions, then creating a creative performance for their peers involving relevant vocabulary and phrases. The second part consisted of a 15 minute music cloze section, where students were filling in lyrics for a song that they were actively listening to. Two academic assessments were given as department-wide mid-term and final academic assessments, two subjective surveys and the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) were given at the beginning and end of the school semester. The FLCAS determined that students’ anxieties lowered on 15 questions and increased on 18 questions, so the arts integration has not notably altered foreign language anxiety. The arts-integrated classes received average scores of 80.5%, while the control classes received 74%. Students have performed higher academically with an arts integrated curriculum. It is therefore recommended that arts in the form of music cloze and drama theatre should be included in EFL curricula to increase academic achievement in foreign language listening skills.
Authors and Affiliations
Metin TİMUÇİN, Hogai ARYOUBI
Stance-Taking through Metadiscourse in Doctoral Dissertations
The authorial stance in academic genres is conveyed with the use of linguistic conventions of disciplines, one of which is metadiscourse. The aim of this study was to compare the use of interactional metadiscourse featur...
ŞİİRİ ÖZLÜYORUM JOURNAL Analysis - Systematic Index (Between 7-29 Issues)
Şiiri Özlüyorum which is the first poetry journal of Nevşehir, is published by poet Fuat Çiftçi in Avanos district of Nevsehir. There are article, essay, criticism, interview, book review, obituary, report, news, memory,...
A BARD IN THE CONTEXT OF VALUES EDUCATION: NESET ERTAS
Values, which are defined as beliefs and assumptions enabling human beings to distinguish between good and bad behavior, play an important role in ensuring social cohesion, social unity and continuity and transferring th...
Views of Pre-Service English Teachers on the Role of Literature in EFL Classes
As the reflection of the target culture, literature has an important role in foreign language teaching process. However language teachers do not use it in their classes and students do not pay attention to it because the...
Motivation for Language Learning: After All We Have Been Studying These since Primary School
The role of motivation in successful learning has been recognised and researched extensively. Recently the theory of self was adapted to language learning motivation, claiming one’s current and possible future selves has...